Jul 27, 2015

Maggi misled customers, breached trust: FSSAI

The HC was hearing a plea by Nestle India against the food regulator's earlier directive restraining it from selling nine variants of Maggi and the state government's order prohibiting their sale.
The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which has imposed a restriction on the sale of Maggi, informed the Bombay High Court on Friday that snack-maker Nestle India had not acted in a trustworthy manner.
The noodle had been banned in the Philippines, argued advocate Mehmood Pracha, who represented the CEO of the FSSAI, suggesting that the company could have made the product safe for consumption in India based on its past experience.
The HC was hearing a plea by Nestle India against the food regulator's earlier directive restraining it from selling nine variants of Maggi and the state government's order prohibiting their sale.
Pracha had brought along with him a few packets of Maggi and claimed that he had purchased them in Delhi on July 22. Alleging that Nestle had not recalled the product from the market, Pracha told a division bench of justices VM Kanade and BP Colabawalla that the firm had failed to follow official directives.
The lawyer opened a few packets to show that each of them contained two tastemakers that didn't have any labels. This is not permitted, he said.
The FSSAI accused Nestle of misleading the public with its tagline 'Mummy, I am Hungry'. Maggi contains lead which is harmful. It is mostly consumed by children, said Pracha, adding that the element, once it enters the system, doesn't get flushed out. "It stays in the kidneys and lungs."
Countering Nestle's claim that tests on Maggi samples should have been done using distilled water, FSSAI said that if that was the case, even the process to cook the noodle should also require distilled water. Moreover, distilled water is hazardous to health, claimed Pracha.
The court will continue hearing the matter on Monday.

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